Lend-Lease GB (1/1/09-7/1/09)

Made a good bit of progress today but can't finish because other stuff needs to be done around the house.  Got the entire airframe of the Buffalo painted.  It's the first time I've ever done this particular scheme on the underside, with sky blue on one side and flat black on the other.  Looks odd to me, and I really fail to see how that would be considered camouflage ....

Started with the sky blue underside...

Then put down dark earth over the entire top side...

Then did the dark green roughly following the painting illustrations...

Then finished up by masking that straight line down the center line of the fuselage and putting down the flat black on the underside...

The canopy masking presented a problem in that it pulled up a lot of the painted framing.  Probably should have lightly scored along the edges of the masking before I removed it but I think I was getting in a bit of a hurry, not sure why.  I did repaint the framing by hand and have since attached the landing gear.  I hope to be able to finish in the next couple of weeks.

 Hey Aggieman, That's looking great. The camo looks nice and the 2 tone belly, Very nicely done. Looking forward to seeing more of the Buffalo.

 Stikman, will be looking for a couple of sets of the decals. Thanks for the info.

 Mobious

Now the paint on the belly of your buffalo looks "out-standing" man, and so was the work on that Soviet Sherman., on the othere page.....you two guys have some realy grate skills. Here's some more of my work.

An before any of you tell me the shape of the hood is to squared or off, that's because I haven't sand any thing yet! I still have a lot of filling and reshaping to do. I hope once I get it closer to it's end it will look like the BM-13N "Katyusha"on a Studebaker US6.

 Hey mg.mikael, just to prove I've started on the DUKW, I snapped a couple of pics of the pit under construction. 

                                                         So it begins, the epic tale of...

                                                                  Mobi Duck

 this is a pic of the kit intake screens. It would've been nice to have had these molded seperatley. A series of holes were drilled, then with a razor I played connect the dots until the screen section was removed. Then came a series of files starting with a coarse .5" wide flat all the way down to a flat needle file, then the sanding, and then a little work with the scalpel to finish off the openings.

 A frame was built with styrene angle to accept the screen and some strip styrene was added as a retainer for the screen. This is a pic with the shrould in place on the starboard side. I still need to add the exhaust pipe which runs out this side and tweak that misaligned styrene strip.

 The molded on pedals were replaced by strip and rod styrene. All the shift levers for the tranny, the transfer case and the E brake lever were kit parts cleaned up. The DUKW's cabin is nearly all plywood construction, and as such I added wood grain with a needle chucked into my pin drill.

 The kit provided seats were IMO are very well done. A little clean up was all that was required.

 I'll try not to post too many pics in the future. Should have most of the cabin finished and painted by this afternoon. Then it will be on to the cargo hold.

 Thanks for checking in...

 Mobious

Aggieman: Looks like that Buffalo is coming together nicely. Can't wait to see you start the weathering!

White_R34:That Katyusha is lookin' good. It doesn't look like the "scratching" is causing you any serious problems, thus I can't wait to see more pics.

Mobious: So I'm gonna assume that PE set finally came in, right? Anyways, your off to a great start on that DUKW, can't wait untill the next update.

Very nice work on the Buffalo Aggieman! I like the half and half belly on it.

The scratchbuilding looks good White_R34. Should make it look better.

Good work on the DUKW Mobious. The interior does look good and the PE makes it look better.

My Sherman is coming along very nicely. All assemblies are put together except for the running gear. Gaps have been puttied and sanded. Here are some pics:

Due to a very nice warm spell, I managed to get a primer/base coat of flat black on this afternoon. Everything seen along with the cupolas and hatches are ready for some Model Master Dark Green. (Though I am liking the flat black. Stealth Sherman anyone? )

I also found a figure set from Tamiya's Churchill when I was looking through the spares box. I pulled it out and found a nice commander to go along the Sherman. Here he is so far:

Hey mg.mikael, I had to cancel the order for the "B" set of PE. The vendor had very poor communications and had BO'd the item and never emailed when I could've expected it. I won't be doing business with those KNUCKLEHEADS anytime soon. Anyway I do have the surf plate set and that includes the windscreen, instrument cluster and a few of the surf plates. The important details. I can tell there will be lots of tie downs on this one. I'll have to check the stash on wire.

 Here is a pic of the seats and the lower portion of the cabin. This just about finishes step 1.  Step 2 is the assembly of the cargo area, the upper cabin area and most of the major OBT.

 I was considering jumping ahead and constructing the lower hull in order to avoid any potential fit problems, before all the hardware is fitted to the upper hull. I think it would be an easier approach than that outlined in the instruction sheet. Very easy to knock off parts while filing and sanding. Besides it looks like it would be fun in the bath tub!

 Mobious

I want to join the group build. Since I recieved approval of my subject, I am going to build a Spitfire in U.S. service. Winged Sword

Winged Sword wrote:

I want to join the group build. Since I recieved approval of my subject, I am going to build a Spitfire in U.S. service. Winged Sword

Great to have you aboard Winged Sword!!! Roster updated, just let me know what scale and who makes the kit.

Hey mg.mikael, I had the dash ready to go. All the detail shaved off, the white areas painted for the instrument film, the other areas painted OD. Had primed the PE dash when I noticed it was only half of the dash. I couldn't find the other half of the film or PE. I looked at the instruction sheet and there was no film or PE for the other half of the dash. I scratched a new "complete" dash from aluminum and used Archer Transfers for the gauges. I couldn't quite get the layout exact but I got it close enough for a handgrenade. I am about to give up entirely on the PE. It's ironic that the only thing I'm considering using from the Eduard set is the windshield. The kit supplied windshield isn't that bad. It could use thinning down and additional details, but it should look ok. Must be the Karma with the DUKW. On a positive note the lower hull went together pretty well, considering it is a 3 piece affair and the upper deck fits nicely into it.

 Warhammer, Looking forward to seeing paint on the British commander and his ride. That figgie is cool. 

 Mo

 PS don't tell anyone I used German gauges. The German tach will be the PTO speed control gauge.

mpkev31b - nice job on the Sherman! nice touch on the stowage. if you are still working on this model for a dio, the only other thing I wuold add is to maybe bore out the MG a bit with the tip of an Xcto knife. Looks solid from the pics? kudos on the build

 stikpusher - p39 looks sweeet so far; I love that little plane.

Aggieman - nice job on the paint job. Ditto on the belly job.

white - great scratchbuilding so far, look forward to the rest!

Mobious - great start! look forward to the rest - cabin looks real sweet!

Warhammer - look forward to the paint!

Had a doctor's appt. today and took the rest of the day off, so I was able to finish my Buffalo.  The kit is the Tamiya B339 Buffalo in 1/48, built OOB except for the antenna wiring.  Model Master acrylics - British Dark Earth, British Dark Green, British Sky Blue S, and Flat Black, with a light dusting of Tamiya Buff.  Additional weathering with Tamiya weathering set (soot mostly).

 Hey Aggieman, a beautiful Buffalo. Very nice work Really like the weathering, top marks. Thanks for sharing the pics.

 Best Regards

 Mobious

Aggieman: That is one awesome looking Buffalo!! Love the camo scheme and the scratch antenna wiring, what more can I say it's an all around top-notch build and a great WIP. You certainly earned your badge, the first page has been updated.

WarHammer25: Your Sherman is looking sweet so far, can't wait to see it painted up!

Mobious: Can't wait to see this new scratched dash you made for your DUKW. Sorry to hear the PE set is being such a b****.

Wow, you guys are flying! I need to get cracking at some point here...

Great Buffalo, Aggieman!

Looks good!! Aggieman.

 Hey mg., The PE is just disappointing, forcing me to rely on my "winging it" priviledge. No snip and glue. The front windshield isn't too awful bad, but did thin it down and changed the bracing a bit on the front. Replaced the side window frames with styrene strip and angle. Added a few more details fabbed from sheet brass to the interior. Attached tools to the port side.  I did manage to get at least 5 gauges in the IP. I could've gotten a few more if I'd drilled them smaller, a little closer together and not used that huge PTO output speed indicator(German Tach). Here's where Mobi's DUKW is currently beached.

 It might be too late to stuff an Ivan in there at the controls. Hmmm.

Sorry to hear about the PE perdicament. But it looks like your making your way through the "muck"/problems. Heck, at least your building slowly, my construction has completely halted. Due to the fact I've been busy with things other then modeling. One good thing though I will be heading to the 2009 Chicago Auto Show. Gotta check out the cars!

I just started with my USAAF' spitfire mk 9,

thanks.

 Hey frankgly, The Spitfire's pit looks pretty good. Was wondering about the Revell kits. They look pretty good from here.

 Sanded, shaved, fit, removed, trimmed, refit, rebuilt, replaced, filed, formed, and finally glued so more parts on the DUKW. Here's a pic of where she's a sittin'...

 Hope to have it in primer by the end of the weekend.

frangkly wrote:

Thanks, she looks like hasegawa kit

 Thanks frangkly, I'll be looking forward to progress updates on the Revell/Hasegawa Spitfire in USAAF colors.

 Ola' All, A few shots of the DUKW in the basecoat.

 I'll be moving along to the shading, detail painting, decals, and weathering next.

Looks good!! Mobious

 Merhaba All! Thanks for the comments Stickman and Stikpusher. The cargo bows were fashioned from .015" Aluminum Strip. I finished up the post shading both shadows and highlights, began detail painting when I dropped the DUKW and knocked loose a tire. This all happened when Earnhardt clipped Kyle Busch and sent him into the wall.

 While there is a pause in the action at Daytona, I thought I'd post a pic of the progress.

 Hopefully I can that tire repaired and back on track before the end of the race.

 Thanks again for checking in and the comments.

 Mobious

 The finished DUKW.

 Thanks for checking in and looking forward to updates from all!

 Mobious

WOW!!!! Very nice work Mobious!!!!